Chapter 177 The Birth of a Legend

Hearing that Su Yun seemed to disagree, Zhao Liming hurriedly added an explanation: "It is well known that Hong Kong has a large population and a small amount of land, but those upper-class people have a tight grip on the right to develop the land, which has added many restrictions to the problem of a large population and a small amount of land."

"There is so much land, but they use the excuse of 'environmental protection' to cover up their fangs of exploiting ordinary people. They have rejected all land development applications time and time again, and then they continue to speculate in real estate, leaving some houses unoccupied and others without houses..." Zhao Liming's eyes were red when he said this. "You may not know that in addition to the public housing estates provided by the government, there are actually many people who live in 'subdivided flats' separated from those old tenement buildings, or even in 'cage houses' that look like larger dog cages."

"Those subdivided flats are when unscrupulous landlords build some walls or simply separate a normal-sized house with curtains, so that they can rent it out as several rooms and make more money. As for the 'cage houses', they are even more outrageous - can you imagine, in a large house, there are dozens or even hundreds of large iron cages stacked up on top of each other, with some beds placed in the cages, and this is considered a 'house' rented out to the poor, using the hard-earned money of these poor people to fatten them up..."

"Although I have been working outside for the past few years, I also come from a housing estate and I know many low-income people." Su Yun sighed, "I understand what you want to say, so I don't agree with your idea."

"Why?" Zhao Liming asked somewhat unconvinced.

Su Yun looked at him and shook her head. "It's a good thing that you have such compassion for the grassroots people, but first of all, the policy there is not stable yet, it is sometimes tight and sometimes loose, and it changes all the time. The most crucial point is - will your family agree with you to engage in the real estate business?"

"Let's say you successfully persuaded your family to let you get into real estate, but the real estate you want to get into is not the real estate that the capitalists want to get into. Instead, you are almost standing on the opposite side of them..."

“But Singapore was successful, and very successful!” Zhao Liming argued.

"Of course I know that Singapore has succeeded, and it is also well-known around the world as a model of success, so other places send people to learn from it." Su Yunsi did not give in because of Zhao Qiming's insistence, "But what is the reason for Singapore's success?"

"You and I both understand that it is because of the support of the government and policies that the ambitions of capital are suppressed with absolute power."

"Even so, Singapore still has not only the 'Home Ownership' program that benefits the general public, but also private housing for sale."

"Look, even Singapore cannot completely stop the capitalists from uniting to exploit the general public. How can you, a rich man with nothing but passion and dreams, stand up to all the other developers who want to double their wealth by relying on the real estate industry?"

"And the huge profits from real estate have always been able to more than double their wealth. Ten times, dozens of times, or even hundreds of times is possible—"

"In this situation, if they encounter a small stone in their way, they can crush it into powder without any effort..."

Zhao Liming fell silent.

Of course, he knew that he alone could not compete with the developers and capitalists who wanted to make money from real estate, but at least if he tried hard, he could save some people who were oppressed by the mountain of "housing"...

From the "house flower" system to the installment loan policy, it seems that the lower-class people who have not saved enough assets have the privilege of "using future money first" to buy houses, so that they can own a small home of their own in advance... But in fact, if you calculate carefully, the interest on those loans must be more terrible than usury.

When a person is bound by a housing loan and becomes a house slave, all his creativity and adventurous spirit will be suppressed by the mortgage and then ruthlessly dragged down.

If things continue to develop in this way, the poor will become poorer, the rich will become richer, and it will be extremely difficult to cross class barriers... What future will there be?

Just as Mr. Lee, who initially proposed the "Home Ownership Scheme", said, Singapore does not have a profound historical and cultural heritage, and it is impossible for it to have a sense of belonging engraved in the hearts of its people like some large countries with a long history. Therefore, if civilians do not have their own houses, when the country is in trouble, those who desperately protect the country will sooner or later come to the conclusion that these poor children are fighting and bleeding just to protect the property of the rich.

Although Mr. Lee still had the inherent shortcomings of a politician when governing Singapore, he deserves praise for his plans that enabled nearly 90% of Singapore's residents to own a home and made Singapore the country with the highest home ownership rate in the world.

People at the bottom of the society don’t have many or high demands. They are even satisfied with just having a roof over their heads and enough food to eat. But those who have too much assets are still not satisfied and still want to build their enjoyment on the suffering of others.

When he was young and raised by his uncle in Singapore, Zhao Liming had seen those HDB flats that were built in rows and blocks. From a distance, they looked like small square worlds connected by corridors, forming small communities. Families lived upstairs and there were various shops downstairs. Occasionally, some elderly people would set up stalls to sell fruits and vegetables grown in pots. It was messy and bustling, with the atmosphere of worldly life.

He was also happy when the public housing estate plan for Hong Kong was planned: the situation in Hong Kong was not much better than that in Singapore. In addition, a large number of people fled to Hong Kong due to the resistance policy, which led to a substantial increase in the population in Hong Kong every year. These tens of millions of people just needed a "home".

It doesn't need to be luxurious or large, they just need a "home" that allows them to live in this area.

But as he continued to learn more about it, he discovered that the various restrictions within the housing estate system, from identity restrictions to family income restrictions, strongly discouraged a large number of people who were longing to own a house to live in.

"In fact, those who resist land development applications include not only developers and capitalists, but also those who have worked hard to save money and bought houses." Su Yun suddenly said.

"Why?" Zhao Liming widened his eyes: Once the application is successful and more land is developed, more buildings can be built, and then the house prices will naturally come down. Wouldn't this be good for those who have a hard time saving money to buy a house?

"It is because they successfully applied to develop more land to build houses, and then the house prices will fall. In this way, the houses they bought with great difficulty will also fall in value instantly, and their assets will be reduced at the same time." Su Yun stared into his eyes, "If it were you, would you be willing?"

"Most people are selfish, so this vicious cycle occurs." Su Yun sighed, "On the one hand, they complain about the rising house prices, but on the other hand, they don't want them to fall."

"So, you are here to advise me not to be too naive and think too much?" Zhao Liming laughed at himself when he heard Su Yun talk about this inside information that was difficult for people like him to access.

He does not ask for everyone to have a house to live in like Singapore, but just wants to give some people a chance to breathe.

But if even those who are closely related to his interests have betrayed this path, then why would he continue to give up everything and go down this path?

Just when Zhao Liming began to feel discouraged, a Home Return Permit, also covered in red, was pushed in front of him by Su Yun.

"No, I'm very interested in your dream, so I told you that this road is difficult." Su Yun said, pushing her home return permit over, "But no matter how difficult this road is, there will always be people who want to take this road."

"I have also thought about going against the current in this profit-seeking era, but I still do not have enough capital, so this dream cannot be realized." Compared with Zhao Yiming who has dreams, Su Yun, a social animal worker from later generations, is the ultimate victim after the development of the deformed real estate industry.

With such a painful memory as the basis, she had thought several years ago that after accumulating assets, she would take advantage of the opportunity for development and buy a batch of land amid the siege and plundering by unscrupulous real estate developers, so that some people could take a breather under the high pressure.

But this requires extremely strong capital and mentality to restrain oneself when others are making huge profits from it, so that the dragon slayer will not succumb to temptation and turn into an evil dragon to bring disaster to the world.

Therefore, if she could have someone like Zhao Qiming, who was the heir to a tycoon, to help pave the way ahead, it would be much easier for her to embark on this journey.

Zhao's contribution to charity was also witnessed by later generations. The teaching buildings and donations allowed her to largely avoid worrying about the betrayal of her collaborators.

The only thing she has to do now is to try her best to help Zhao Qiming open this path.

"If you want to build such a small boat that can go against the current, you need not only to strengthen your own capital, but also to have partners who can go with you." Su Yun said calmly, "I have some connections in the inland area. I can let you go north as a Hong Kong businessman to do 'investment observation reference'."

"Although now is not the time for you to realize your dream, at least after we work together, we can seize some opportunities and prevent those bloodthirsty jackals from devouring everything."

"Are you willing to help me?" Zhao Liming calculated in his mind, "But considering your assets..."

If she hadn't known that this was his character, Su Yun would have been irritated by his unconscious sarcasm: "Not now, at least, you have to give me at least five years to accumulate capital."

"I'm sorry." Zhao Liming realized his own rudeness and first apologized to Su Yun earnestly. Then he analyzed the situation for Su Yun in a very sincere but irritating way, "Have you been working hard to make money and accumulate capital in the past few years? I'm not trying to hit you, but it's a fact - even if every movie you make makes money, the return on investment will take too long, and the profits from the film industry are hard to compare with the huge profits from the real economy..."

"The entertainment industry is my hobby, and high-tech industry is my capital and basis for making money." Su Yun knocked on the table, signaling Zhao Liming to close his mouth, which always makes people angry even though he speaks the truth sincerely.

After Zhao Qiming shut up obediently and acted as if he was listening attentively, Su Yun smiled confidently: "Just wait, the computer company I invested in the United States will be listed at the end of the year."

Anyone who has some knowledge of history in this area will probably find it difficult not to remember the "Double Twelve" on December 12, 1980.

On December 12, 1980, Apple Inc. went public.

In less than an hour, all 4.6 million shares were sold out. After the market closed that day, Apple's top management instantly created four billionaires and more than 40 millionaires within a single day, and the unit of their suffix was "dollars."

Su Yun invested a huge amount of money to get involved when everyone thought she was stupid. Perhaps the number in the record of the fastest birth of a billionaire will become "5".

This is the horror of the real economy: she has worked hard here and there over the years, but has only reached the level of a multi-millionaire; but after the company goes public and starts trading stocks, she can increase her wealth to hundreds of millions in just one day.

After hearing Su Yun's prediction, Zhao Qiming was unable to utter the exclamation "You are so bold".

He didn't understand the terrifying aspects of high-tech, so he didn't understand why such a computer company could attract such a huge amount of funds, but he had seen Su Yun's confident look in old yellowed photos.

It was a group photo of eight brothers and sisters from the previous generation of the Zhao family that he saw when he was still living in his uncle's house in Singapore.

The eyes of the people in those photos are just like Su Yun’s at this moment.

The ending of the people in the photo is that they overcame all difficulties and successfully became big bosses in Nanyang and Hong Kong.

His father, Zhao Rifu, has become a legend in the Hong Kong film and television industry.